empirical, which is available to everyone; and supernatural revelation, which is limited to kami-persons. Kami-persons are instructed through hearing or dreaming, while being bodily possessed (completely or partially), or during a waking vision at which time the kaminchu is in full possession of her senses. In the latter experience the individual is a spectator or participant in something which he both hears and sees. Since this instruction is revelatory in nature, formal training is rejected as being not necessary; actually, training for the religious office is acquired through association with other priestess and yuta are considered to be divinely conferred. This is balanced in the thinking of the ordinary person by consultation with several kaminchu and the acceptance of the most reasonable opinion.
FEMALE ORIENTATION
Women command the chief positions in religious leadership; their relationship to ancient practice and belief can be traced to the mythological creation story in which they received an early identification with religion. Men have never been associated with religious authority; when they have participated in religious rites it has always been as secondary officials who have served the priestess in a secular function, such as leading her horse. Prior to the origin of state religion, each male of standing was paired with a female, usually a sister. Her function was to manipulate the spirit which gave him status and power; one can detect traces of the sister-kami concept and the sibling-deity myth in this arrangement.
With the creation of a state religion by Sho Hashi in a.d. 1429, state-appointed priestesses (noro) were given the responsibility for the supervision over and practice of kami worship. Present leadership is still dominated by females and reflects the traditional place of women in the religious life of the Okinawan people.
RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP
Contemporary Okinawan religious offices2 are organized according to the following structure:
Priestess: Many communities have a noro-nuru who may or may not be a resident priestess. She is the chief official for religious matters and commands the greatest amount of respect. Most noro are assisted by another woman. Except for a few new villages every old settlement has a resident representative of the founding house (niigami) who ranks second only to the noro. In those villages lacking a resident noro, the village niigami is the ranking priestess for that village. Unlike the noro the niigami seems always to have been unrestricted so far as marriage is concerned and usually resides in her husband's house. When ritual is conducted in her village by the noro, the niigami serves as her assistant. In the larger communities such as Nago there may be more than one niigami because there may be more than one founding house. Nevertheless one niigami is always designated senior to the other.
In the villages of Okinawa (especially of the central and southern part) a fourth priestess is found: she is the kudii. Kudii are "called" by kami to represent the kin group in all ritual services on behalf of the kin. Special kudii may be appointed to pray for the kin group at the sites of former castles; they are called "Nakijin Kudii," "Shuri Kudii," or "Nanzan Kudii." On major ritual occasions all kudii of a kin lineage may pray together. If a kin group is large enough for a special kudii or not, it is a responsibility of the sib or lineage kudii to pray to the former national sites.
Household Mother: While not a kami-person, the mother of each household is responsible for the ritual of her family. She is the religious leader of the family, and becomes so at the time of her marriage.
Shaman Yuta: Yuta, unlike the household mother, may be considered kaminchu and may be male or female. The yuta are utilized for their supernatural diagnostic skill, but sometimes they specialize in another function, such as prayer. If kami trouble is the basis for all human trouble, someone must possess the ability to determine which kami is offended and how to rectify the problem. The yuta are important persons, therefore, for those who believe in supernatural intervention. Yuta do not inherit their position but are "called" to it by way of a traumatic experience which may be spiritual, physical, and mental in nature. The word "yuta" means "to shake."
Male Functionaries: Most religious functionaries are female; some of lesser importance are not. The ranking village male is the niitchu. Niitchu serve as assistants to the village niigami. Both niitchu and niigami are of the founding family of the village; both are the eldest of their sex in the founding family, and are siblings. In addition to the niitchu there were other males who traditionally assisted in ritual matters: they served ceremonial wine, carried a large fan, beat the ceremonial drum to sacred songs, cleaned and prepared ritual sites, and collected taxes for the payment of ceremonial expense.
The Fortuneteller (sanjinsoo) is also a male functionary. Fortunetellers are not considered as kami-persons; their knowledge is derived not from supernatural revelation but from the intelligent usage of the lunar almanac, I Ching, and other books on occult lore. Among the duties of the "educated" fortuneteller are: the selection of the right time for certain actions (such as buying, selling, or moving) or rite events (such as engagement and marriage). They are also consulted for selecting the the location of good places for wells or tombs; suggestion in personal names and the recommending a course of action for the coming year.
Buddhist Priests (booji) are scattered throughout the island and are found especially in the cities and the towns. Their chief function seems to be the care of temples and officiation at funerals. They also sell talismans and protective amulets. Booji are also said to exercise the power to remove ghosts and encourage their return to the family tomb. The belief in ghosts is related to the conviction that if death takes place violently or unnaturally the spirit must hover near the place of death and can find no rest until it, in turn, has caused a death. Booji are also called on to cremate the bodies of persons who are guilty of serious criminal acts or who bring disgrace upon the kin group. When this happens a body is denied burial in the family tomb. After cremation the ashes are interred with simple rites in the temple or temple yard.
LACK OF FORMAL PUBLIC WORSHIP SERVICES
The Western man identifies religion with formal services of public worship. He is conditioned to the prayer service, the mass, and the preaching service. Okinawan religious tradition is characterized by private ritual services, attendance at which is usually limited to the priestess and her attendants. Neither group singing nor religious education is in their experience and, under the circumstances, both are unnecessary.
RELIANCE ON RITUAL ACTION
The central concern with Okinawan religious practice is the maintenance of a partnership between the various kami and man. The focus is not, therefore, on obedience to a set of commandments, to a book of Scripture, or to the dogma of an institution; it is an interplay between the ancestor of the past and the living of the present, and between the kami who affect nature and agricultural man. How is this relationship strained? In a number of ways:
Failure to maintain proper ritual rites with ancestors.
Erroneous or improper ritual action.
Defilement of sacred places.
Violation of social values.
Pollution: Anything offensive to kami such as childbirth, sex, blood, death, sickness, disease, tombs, bone washing, visitation of major sites of worship by the male, visitation of birds on the ancestral shrine in the house, or a recently widowed woman.
Misdeeds of Ancestors: Punishment is thought to be passed from father to son until kami are pacified.
Taboo: Things and acts offensive to kami, such as the spilling of blood or taking of life in a newly sown rice paddy; (in the north) working on the 8th, 18th, or 28th days of the lunar calendar (these are taboo days when the kami are thought to descend to the mountains and fields); male presence in the sacred utaki (groves); robes and other clothing of the noro; houses of sickness; death; childbirth (taboo for noro); fishing boats (taboo for women);
